


A Simple Touch

by neevebrody



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Episode Related, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-28
Updated: 2008-07-28
Packaged: 2017-10-07 04:59:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neevebrody/pseuds/neevebrody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're okay, they'd weathered another potentially life-threatening situation, they're all in one piece, the team's intact and the city's safe once again...</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Simple Touch

**Author's Note:**

> Written for McSheplets "the little things" challenge  
> Spoilers for The Seed

Rodney's eyes burn in their sockets and not for the first time, the data on his screens blur and squiggle. Straightening himself, his lower back protests – loudly – at his sitting for hours without a break. But he has to get this done. They'd been lucky again, damn lucky, but then… one could always use a little luck in the Pegasus Galaxy.

The terrified look in Keller's eyes and that single tear sticks with him, as does the flat-lining of the monitor when, for the umpteenth time, he'd been poised to lose John. No, he has to get this done. It won't be his fault if something like this happens again. He takes a quick stretch and goes back to the data.

A soft voice behind him makes him jump – he didn't even hear the door. He spins around, greeted by John's sternly serious or seriously stern face, he can't decide which. "Hey," Rodney says, checking his watch. "It's—oh, way past your bedtime. What are you doing down here?"

"I might ask you the same thing." John scans the computer screens with a disinterested glance and a frown. "What are you working on anyway?"

Rodney swivels back to his computers and continues his uploading. "Revising the protocols on the emergency detection system," he says, like that's what everyone does at 2:00 a.m.

"Rodney, you don't have to do that—"

Holding up his hand, Rodney cuts him off.  "John, I know what you're going to say and you can just save it. We've already had some close calls, but this was—" He turns to Sheppard. "—too close," he says, dropping his gaze. "I'm just being diligent… sound familiar?" He doesn't wait for a snappy comeback, sure John hasn't got one.  Not that Rodney hasn't always practiced diligence, he's just learned what it means to be diligent for the sake of others, for his team and everyone else on Atlantis. He's spent four years learning that from the best.

"But we've all been given that virus thing," John offers. "We were the only ones exposed. It couldn't hurt to—"

Rodney trusts the signature McKay defiance he's silently firing at Sheppard is getting through.

John sighs. "Is there anything I can do to help?" he asks after a moment. "What's all this stuff anyway?" Rodney reaches over to keep John from rifling through the files on the lab table.

"Carson's notes—his analysis of the alien organism. He's broken the whatever it is down into all its basic organic elements. I'm entering those into the parameters of the scanning system as well as the emergency protocols."

"Hmmm," John nods. "So…"

"So—by extracting and uploading each individual element and its common compounds, anything resembling this organism will be detected immediately by the early warning system or by the scanners. Oh," he says, spinning around and snapping his fingers. "We should make it standard medical procedure to scan all personnel returning from any planet—make it part of the debriefing. I'll, uhm, make a note to speak to Jennifer about that."

"Rodney?"

"Hmm?"

"How'd you get Carson's file?"

"Uhm, Woolsey," he replies, stunned that John would ask.

John squidges his eyebrows. "Woolsey just _gave_ you Carson's file on this?"

Clearing his throat, Rodney turns back to his work. "Sure, why not? You just have to know how to talk to these administrative types."

"Rodney?"

"Well—he would have given it to me. It probably just slipped his mind that I'd asked. Now, if you don't mind… I need to finish up here."

"Before Woolsey discovers the file's missing?"

"Ye—uhm, noooo—" Rodney whines in frustration, but then John leans close, his warmth hovers, falling around Rodney like a caress, lips grazing the short hairs at the back of Rodney's neck.

"Come to bed, Rodney." John's voice is low and thick and it burns that warmth right into Rodney's skin. "You can finish this first thing tomorrow."

He leans back against John and closes his eyes. "Be right there—promise." The last thing he feels, before hearing the echo of John's boots headed for the door, is a slow, tender squeeze of his shoulder. A seemingly innocuous gesture, but Rodney knows it's much more than that. It's relief and promise all in one touch, and for the first time in hours, he relaxes.

Rodney sits and stares at the computer screen. They're okay, they'd weathered another potentially life-threatening situation, they're all in one piece, the team's intact and the city's safe once again, even more prepared for the next crisis.

He pushes back from the table. Yes, he can finish this tomorrow.


End file.
